Summary

• Pros:Like the original Floor POD, but with better build quality, more amps and effects, and more hands-free control.
• Cons: The sound quality could be better – it’s still good, but for the pursuit of perfect tone you’ll have to spend a bit more.
• Overall: For the price, the Floor POD Plus is a fantastic pedal, although it’s more bare-bones in terms of features than more modern options.

Full Review

When the original POD was released, it was a revolution in the world of multi-effects, but it wasn’t perfect. The biggest issue was with changing patches, which was challenging to do on-the-fly without the addition of an external foot controller, presenting big problems for using the pedal live. The Floor POD was inevitable for that reason, but as one of Line 6’s earliest footboard-style pedals, it also had a few niggling issues. The Floor POD Plus sees Line 6 refining the same formula, aiming to improve on the standard model and give guitarists something dependable, easy to use and road-worthy. But were they successful?

Top Quality Amp Modeling and Effects

The newer incarnation of the Floor POD aims to keep the straightforward operation of the original, but boosts the number of amp models and effects available. The build quality seems better overall, with a sturdier frame and an improved expression pedal on the right hand side of the unit. There’s an aesthetic improvement too, with a sleek, rounded rectangle design that drops the forced “kidney bean” shape from the original Floor Pod (which had the expression pedal attached uncomfortably onto the side as if it was an afterthought) and makes the whole thing look more professional.

The Floor POD Plus comes with 32 amp models and 16 cabs. These include both vintage and modern options, with amps like the Marshall JCM 800, the Vox AC30, the Fender Blackface Deluxe and Twin Reverbs and many more filling out the lineup, as well as a selection of Line 6 options. These are selected by turning the left dial from the three black ones in the center, and appropriate cabs are paired with them automatically. Line 6 has now sent the POD amp models “HD” with their newer multi-effects units, and it must be said that the quality of the modeling here is a little worse. However, they’re all still pretty good, especially when you consider the price range of the pedal. If realism is especially important, it’s going to cost you a ton more money to get something like the POD HD500X.

For effects, you get 16 modulators, 6 delays, a couple of reverbs, a compressor and a noise gate. These are also based on legendary effects, including the Memory Man, Uni-Vibe and the Mu-Tron III. These generally work well in use, but you are limited in how many you can use at once. You can have one modulation and one delay active, alongside the reverb, noise gate and compressor options, but other pedals give you a lot more freedom to combine effects, so you can have two or more of the same type and freely choose which types to use simultaneously. Aside from this, the only issue is that the expression pedal was lacking in depth when used with the wah effect.

You can store your saved creations in any of 124 preset locations, which are arranged into 31 banks with four presets each (A to D). These can be selected hands-free using the POD Floor Plus’ footswitches – the two below the display screen scroll through the banks, and the left-most four on the bottom row choose a specific preset. However, since you use physical dials to program your settings, when you call something up the actual controls will be in different positions to the programmed ones – if you adjust one of them, it alters the stored sound accordingly. You can also set the pedals in “On/Off” mode to activate and deactivate the amp model, solo boost, effects and delay hands-free. The final pedal is a tap tempo, used to keep your effects synchronized.

A Great Multi-Effects Modeler at a Great Price

The Floor POD Plus isn’t the ultimate multi-effects unit. The difference in capability between it and something like Line 6’s XT Live is significant, but it’s also true that the Floor POD Plus drastically improves on its predecessor. It isn’t trying to be the ultimate, be-all-and-end-all effects pedal, but it still accomplishes quite a lot: offering a nice range of amp models and a small, core selection of effects in a compact package. For the price, it’s a great offering – you can get more extra features (like onboard loopers and more freedom in combining effects) on other multi-effects pedals, but if you’re happy with a more basic, bare-bones (and cheap) approach the Floor POD Plus is a definite contender.

Line 6 Floor POD Plus Demo

Line 6 Floor POD Plus Review4Admin2015-06-11 23:38:47When the original POD was released, it was a revolution in the world of multi-effects, but it wasn’t perfect. The biggest issue was with changing patches, which was challenging to do on-the-fly without the addition of an external foot controller, presenting big problems for using the pedal live. The Floor POD was inevitable for that reason, but as one of Line 6’s earliest footboard-style pedals, it also had a few niggling issues. The Floor POD Plus sees Line 6 refining the same formula, aiming to improve on the standard model and give guitarists something dependable, easy to use and road-worthy. Check Amazon Price…